It was a whale of a week for Litigator of the Week nominations. No offense to our prior winners, but the top four results I had sitting in front of me this week would have had a pretty darn good chance of taking home the honors in what I'll call a more normal week.

Our first runner-up can boast of having scored the largest defense judgment in patent litigation history. (Gulp. Did I really just name these guys a runners up?) Mark Perry and Wayne Barsky of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher scored a win at the Federal Circuit for clients Serono and Pfizer that brings an end to 10 years of litigation with rival Biogen. The Federal Circuit decision reinstates a jury finding that Biogen's patent for a certain use of interferon-beta, a human protein that triggers the body to fight viral diseases, was anticipated in the prior art. The ruling wards off Biogen's damages claim of more than $5.4 billion. That's billion with a "B."

Also getting a runner-up nod is the London-based team at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom including David Kavanagh, David Herlihy, counsel Nicholas Lawn and associate Devika Khopkar who got their own multi-billion defense win. On September 24, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague ruled that India's attempt to impose onto Skadden client Vodafone International Holdings BV a retrospective withholding tax demand of $5.5 billion violated the country's obligations under a bilateral investment treaty.